Phil: My doctor gave us some questions to think about, you know, to help us decide what is important in life and how that might affect our medical decisions.

Anne: First, we were asked to think about what makes our life worth living. That was an easy one for me—living as long as I can with my husband and my family.

Phil: For me, what makes my life worth living is being able to talk with my family and friends, especially my grandkids. If I were so sick that I couldn’t do that, well, then my life would not be worth living. I know this.

Anne: Next, we were supposed to think about past experiences with serious illness we have had or have watched other people go through like our friends or family, or even someone on TV.

Phil: My wife and I saw this woman on the news. She couldn’t wake up from a coma and had to be fed through a tube. I started thinking, I would never want to live like that. My family is the most important thing in my life and if I were in this woman’s situation I wouldn’t even be able to talk to them. That'd be worse than dying to me. I would want to focus on being comfortable.

Anne: I had the opposite reaction to this woman’s situation. Trying to live to see my grandkids grow up is so important to me that I realized I would want to at least try a short trial of treatment….not forever, just for a little while…to see if I might get better. I would even be willing to try a breathing machine or a feeding tube.

Phil: You know, my wife and I have been married a long time, but we had no idea we would feel so differently. Talking about that woman on TV really helped us understand what matters most to both of us.

Narrator: Question #3. What Matters Most in Life? Quality of life differs for each person. For some people, the main goal is to be kept alive as long as possible even if: They have to be kept alive on machines and are suffering OR they are too sick to talk to their family and friends. Look at the line below. These people may be on one side of the line and say, “My main goal is to live as long as possible, no matter what.”

For other people, the main goal is to focus on quality of life and being comfortable. These people would prefer a natural death, and not be kept alive on machines. Look at the line below. These people may be all the way on the other side of the line and say, “My main goal is to focus on quality of life and being comfortable.”

Other people are somewhere in between. Some may feel that both living as long as possible and quality of life are equally important. Other people may feel somewhere in between equally important and living as long as possible. And, other people may feel somewhere in between equally important and focusing on quality of life.

We will be asking you about your main goal for your medical care and what is important to you. Your goals may change at different times in your life. They may differ: today, in your current health, or, at the end of life.